what to do INSTEAD OF SQUATS?

At least once a day I get an email, YouTube or Facebook
comment from some dude who wants to know what he
should do INSTEAD of squats or deadlifts.

Usually it comes from a guy how has been working out
but has recently experienced some pain, discomfort or
injury while doing squats, etc.

My answer is always…

More squats!

Weird, right?

Why the heck would I tell someone who is looking for
an alternative to squats – to do MORE squats?

Well, because I believe that in the realm of exercise and movement – “If You Can’t… You MUST!”

What I mean is this…

For you to be The Strongest Version Of Yourself, you
had better be able to at least move efficiently within each
of what Paul Chek calls your “Primal Movement Patterns”.

That means you should be able to perform some variation
of the squat, bend, push, pull, twist, lunge and walk (or gait).

If you can’t perform these basic movements, then you are
in deep doo-doo and must work to bring yourself up to the
functional ability.

So, what about guys who have pain or discomfort when
doing these movements?

Well, that goes back to what I said yesterday… If you can’t
perform an exercise, its not the exercise’s fault – It’s YOUR
Fault.

And you had better find a way to get your self moving
properly.

The best way to re-educate the neuromuscular system and dissolve faulty recruitment patterns is by chunking the exercise down into smaller workable parts.

For example….

The squat is made up for the following “chunks”:

Hip Flexion / Extension

Knee Flexion / Extension

Ankle Flexion / Extension

Thoracic Extension

If you find that your abilities within any single one of the chunks described above is deficient, then you need to back off the squat pattern and work on the chunk.

So, for a guy who always seems to lean forward too far in
his squat thus creating pain within the lower back…. usually
his Ankle Flexion is deficient.

You know this because when he squats his ankles keep a
90 degree right angle. This restriction at the ankle is
compensated for by the excessive flexion of the hips, creating
a forward lean that stresses out the low back.

Our friend needs to fix the Ankle Flexion chunk by stretching
his Achilles Tendon and Soleus every day AND before each
set of squats.

Look, I want to see you succeed…

And the ONLY person that can make that happen is you!

That means you need to have at least a basic understanding of
anatomy and biomechanics so that you can analyze your
movements and make corrections as needed.

A skill like this will save you months of wasted gains, and
perhaps thousands on wasted doctor bills.